Domaine Ogereau Coteaux du Layon Saint Lambert 2011

Huet and Foreau are the best in the business when it comes to sweet and semi-sweet Chenin blanc. A stone’s throw from each other with roots in the affluent limestone soils around the town of Vouvray, these wines have a price tag to match.

Despite having to fork out upwards of $60 a bottle, these highly regarded names pretty much sell themselves. What’s far more of a challenge is finding lesser-known producers from ‘lowlier’ appellations whose far more reasonable prices belie the quality they deliver.

At the same price you’ll be hard pressed to find a Chenin to rival Ogereau’s Coteaux du Layon in terms of palate weight, balance of acidity and level of fragrance. The golden yellow colour has you anticipating the honeysuckle and dried apricots on the nose with the all important minerality and acidity securing its place in the league of quality semi-sweet wine.

The quality is unquestionable but why the difference in price?

Like all vines planted on their northern-most limit it tends to come down to soil. Around Anjou, where the Coteaux du Layon vineyard lies, the soils are predominantly clay schist. So while the wine may have a little less acidity than its upstream neighbours of Vouvray, the Anjou soils deliver a fuller, richer palate.

So despite hailing from the wrong side of the tracks this wine stands proudly alongside the likes of Huet, having been crafted by the hands of one of the region’s stars and from an outstanding vintage to boot.

:::O:::

O = Organic: farming without the use of inputs that can have adverse effects. ‘Non-systemic’ fungicides and pesticides are used in place of ‘systemic’ chemicals said to enter the ‘blood’ of a plant (akin to antibiotics in the human world).